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Social Dimension of Higher Educa-tion: what role and what
percep-tion for our institutions?
The objective of the paper is to outline the approach to social
dimension in higher education in the European Higher Education Area
(EHEA) through an over-view of the way it has been addressed in the
different higher education Ministers’ Communiques. In addition, the
way it has been approached in the Basque Univer-sity System linking
it to social responsi-bility and with the support of the Basque
Government will be highlighted.
The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the Social
Dimension
The Ministers responsible for higher edu-cation in the EHEA
reiterated their com-mitment at the 2018 Bologna Ministeri-al
Conference in Paris to strengthen the social dimension of higher
education and further national strategies. The concept of the
social dimension of higher educa-tion is not new. In fact, is one
of the over-arching topics within the Bologna Process and has
already been on the agenda now for nearly 20 years. The main
objective is
to increase equity and inclusion in higher education by removing
barriers in access. The goal of the social dimension, which was
first mentioned in the Prague Com-muniqué in 2001 has been
developed through the years and its evolution can be seen through
the different higher edu-cation Ministers’ Communiqués.
In the Prague Communiqué1 (2001) the “...Ministers reaffirmed
the need, recalled by students to take
account of the social dimension in the Bologna process...”.
Afterwards, the social dimension was de-scribed as an integral
part of the EHEA and a necessary condition for enhanc-ing the
attractiveness and competitive-ness of the EHEA (Bergen Communiqué,
20052). With the London Communiqué3 (2007), it was agreed a common
defini-tion for the objective of the social dimen-sion:
1
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministeri-al_declarations/2001_Prague_Communique_Eng-lish_553442.pdf2
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministeri-al_declarations/2005_Bergen_Communique_eng-lish_580520.pdf3
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministeri-al_declarations/2007_London_Communique_Eng-lish_588697.pdf
Social Dimension of Higher Education: what role and what
perception for our institutions?
Eva Fernandez de Labastida, (Unibasq, Spain)
Source: ECA (2019): ECA Barometer, European Consortium for
Accreditation. Available at
http://ecahe.eu/assets/uploads/2019/11/ECA_Barometer_3.0.pdf
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ECA Barometer | © European Consortium for Accreditation
21
“We share the societal aspiration that the student body en-
tering, participating in and completing higher education at
all
levels should reflect the diversity of our populations”
and the Ministers also stressed “the importance of students
being able to complete their
studies without obstacles related to their social and eco-
nomic background”.
Further on, Ministers further agreed in setting national
strategies and policies, including action plans and reports on
their progress at the next ministerial meeting. It was also
recommended to work towards defining comparable data and indicators
for the social dimension of higher education”. Later, the Ministers
committed further on to “...set measureable targets to widen
participation of under-
represented groups in higher education, to be reached by
the end of the next decade...”
(the Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve Communiqué, 20094). In
Bucharest, the Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the social
dimension in higher edu-cation and thus to working towards the goal
that “the student body entering and graduating from higher ed-
ucation institutions should reflect the diversity of
Europe’s
populations”
and agreed to “step up [their] efforts towards underrepresented
groups
through developing the social dimension of higher educa-
4
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministerial_dec-larations/Leuven_Louvain_la_Neuve_Communique_April_2009_595061.pdf
tion, reducing inequalities and providing adequate student
support services, counselling and guidance, flexible
learning
paths and alternative access routes, including recognition
of prior learning”
(the Bucharest Communiqué5, 2012). Fol-lowing this last
communiqué, the PL4SD, Peer Learning for the Social Dimension6 was
introduced which focused on sup-porting the process of
international ex-change and learning of good practices on the area
of the social dimension. The social dimension was also an important
part of the Yerevan Ministerial Confer-ence7 (2015) reflecting on
the progress made so far and looking forward to 2020. The ministers
committed themselves “to make our higher education more socially
inclusive by
implementing the EHEA social dimension strategy.”
and defined some priorities in a renewed vision for the European
Higher Education Area regarding the social dimension: “Making our
systems more inclusive is an essential aim for
the EHEA as our populations become more and more diver-
sified, also due to immigration and demographic changes.”
They also agreed to undertake to wid-en participation in higher
education and support institutions that provide relevant learning
activities in appropriate contexts
5
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministerial_dec-larations/Bucharest_Communique_2012_610673.pdf6
http://www.ehea.info/pid34436/social-dimension.html7
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministerial_dec-larations/YerevanCommuniqueFinal_613707.pdf
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for different types of learners, including lifelong learning,
improving permeability and articulation between different
edu-cation sectors as well as enhancing the social dimension of
higher education, improving gender balance and widening
opportunities for access and completion, including international
mobility, for stu-dents from disadvantaged backgrounds. To do so
mobility opportunities for stu-dents and staff from conflict areas
will be provided, while working to make it possible for them to
return home once conditions allow. In the Yerevan Commu-niqué,
there was also a wish to promote the mobility of teacher education
stu-dents in view of the important role they will play in educating
future generations of Europeans.
Finally, in the Paris Communiqué8 (2018), ministers recognised
that “[...] further effort is required to strengthen the social
di-
mension of higher education. In order to meet our com-
mitment that the student body entering and graduating
from European higher education institutions should reflect
the diversity of Europe’s populations, we will improve ac-
cess and completion by under-represented and vulnerable
groups. Therefore, we mandate the BFUG to take this issue
forward by the next EHEA Ministerial conference.”
The Ministers also agreed to develop a common understanding of
the concept
8
http://ehea.info/Upload/document/ministerial_dec-larations/EHEAParis2018_Communique_final_952771.pdf
of social dimension within the Bologna Follow-Up Group9 (BFUG)
and a dedicat-ed Advisory group on Social dimension10. As such the
Ministers agreed to devel-op proposed principles and guidelines for
the social dimension of HE within the EHEA and to have them
submitted to the 2020 Ministerial Conference for adop-tion, through
the BFUG. Other objectives agreed at the Paris Ministerial
Conference aim at gathering and examining of the data on good
practices regarding social dimension, drawing on previously agreed
commitments and existing data, explor-ing the scope of the EHEA
cooperation to strengthen the social dimension of HE as well as
start working on Peer Learn-ing Activities within the social
dimension area. The main aim of the Advisory group on Social
dimension is to develop the fu-ture “Principles and Guidelines for
Social Dimension” as established in its work plan11 and vision and
SWOT12. This advi-sory group had its first meeting at the beginning
of 2019 and plans to have the document ready for the 2020
Ministerial Conference. Some of the issues already discussed are
the current state of play of
9 http://ehea.info/page-work-plan-2018-202010
http://ehea.info/page-Advisory-Group-111
http://ehea.info/Upload/AG_1_SD_Work-plan_2019-2020.pdf12
http://ehea.info/Upload/AG_1_SD_Vision_SWOT.pdf
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the social dimension in the EHEA13 which concluded that even if
there is a recog-nized importance of the social dimen-sion in HE
for enhancing social inclusion and social cohesion in EHEA policy
pa-pers, the question remains regarding the priority given to these
policies as very few countries have national strategies already
developed; even if the majority of countries have some targets
related to widening participation in HE, there is no reference to
specific under-rep-resented groups and even if there is an increase
in the data collection regarding the composition of the student
body and on policies to enhance the social dimen-sion, not all the
systems monitor the same data or have specific information
regarding under-represented groups in a systematic way. In their
second meet-ing, they approached, among some other topics like Data
collection for the social dimension14, the links between social
di-mension and quality assurance15 high-lighting that fostering
social dimension
13
http://ehea.info/Upload/AG_1_SD_Current_State_of_Play_for_SD_in_the_EHEA.pdf14
http://www.ehea.info/Upload/AG_1_SD_2_Data_Col-lection.pdf15
http://www.ehea.info/Upload/AG_1_SD_2_Link_SD_Quality_Assurance.pdf
could be improved if there is a national strategy or programme
aimed to do so, or if it is embedded in the national HE quality
assurance model or if there are institutional policies and
mechanisms aimed at enhancing the social dimen-sion. Regarding the
embedment of social dimension in the national HE quality as-surance
model, it concluded that the in-clusion of elements of social
dimension in the external evaluation procedures and QA standards
and criteria, would set up a framework towards continuously
motivating HEIs to enhance their social dimension involving all the
stakeholders in fostering social dimension at the insti-tutional
level.
In the last years, several EU funded proj-ects have addressed
the topic of social dimension and how to improve it, as the IDEAS
project16 (Effective Approaches to Enhancing the Social Dimension
of High-er Education), where by identifying effec-tive and
efficient approaches to improve the social dimension in higher
education, examples of good practice with proven quantitative and
qualitative successes are presented; while some other have
16 http://www.equityideas.eu/
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dealt with social responsibility (UNIBILI-TY - University Meets
Social Responsibil-ity project17) aiming at strengthening the
relationships of universities with their lo-cal communities.
Specifically, the project developed strategies how universities can
increase their social responsibility actively on student and
researcher level. Lately, the INVITED (Strategies towards Equity,
Diversity and Inclusion at Univer-sities18) project led by EUA aims
to sup-port universities in developing strategies towards equity,
diversity and inclusion. It also seeks to promote dialogue between
stakeholders at the system level in or-der to ensure that
regulatory and funding frameworks empower universities to ful-fil
their social responsibility.
Application and examples of the Basque HE and QA system
If we narrow the focus to the Basque University System and
addressing the need to develop specific national or even regional
strategies to foster the social
17
https://www.postgraduatecenter.at/en/life-long-learning-projects/university-extension/fin-ished-projects/university-meets-social-responsibili-ty-unibility/about-unibility/18
https://eua.eu/101-projects/737-invited.html
dimension of higher education, we find the experience of the
Basque Govern-ment which funded through some in-stitutional
agreements in the framework of the four-year university plans
specif-ic actions regarding among other social responsibility
related activities and fos-tered the social dimension of the three
institutions of the Basque University System since 2011. These
institutional agreements, signed between the Basque Government and
each of the universities in the Basque University System, have as a
main purpose to mobilize universities for the achievement of the
specific ob-jectives established in the regional Uni-versity Plan.
Unibasq has reviewed the indicators and the activities done and
made a report for the Basque Govern-ment since 2008. The main
outcomes regarding social responsibility in the pe-riod from 2011
to 2018 are:- Elaboration of equality plans- Elaboration of
strategic plans regarding sustainability- Improvement of the
environmental man-agement- Improvement of the accessibility to
infra-structures- Development of communication plans- Efficient
economic resources management
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(analytic accountancy, e-administration…)- Development of
actions to improve the employability of graduates- Agreements with
organizations of social nature
For example, the three universities are involved in the
development of gender equality plans. In fact, the public
univer-sity of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has already approved
its 3rd Equality plan (2019-2022), has created a specific
department on equality and, as an evo-lution, it is planning to
include a gender equality subject in all its Bachelor de-grees19.
In the case of the University of Deusto, it has a dedicated web
page re-garding all the initiatives and activities related with
university social responsi-bility, including equality, inclusion,
social justice, environment and health20. The next university plan
for the 2019-2022 period21 is a share effort between the Basque
Government and the three
19
https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/berdintasuna-direc-cionparalaigualdad/aurkespena20
https://www.deusto.es/cs/Satellite/deusto/en/uni-versity-social-responsibility?cambioidioma=si21
http://www.euskadi.eus/contenidos/informacion/uni_planes_universitarios/es_def/adjuntos/Plan_del_Sistema_Universitario_2019-2022_cast.pdf
Basque higher education institutions, in-cluding an integral
strategic planning. Re-garding the social dimension, the Basque
Government is totally engaged with the UN 2030 agenda and the
UNESCO Global goals for sustainable development main-ly through the
following six priorities:- Inclusive education- Gender equality-
Economic growth and employability- Infrastructures and innovation-
Reducing the inequality- Alliances and development cooperation
More in detail, the new university plan establishes a specific
“University com-munity line” with the following focus on:-
Fostering gender equality- Extending the use of the Basque
language- EquitySome questions for reflection regarding the topic:
- In a growing age of marketization and com-petition among HEIs, is
the social dimension a priority for our institutions?- How is the
social dimension related with social responsibility 22as a broader
term and
22 In the ISO 26000 guidelines on social responsi-bility
established by the International Organisation for Standardisation,
SR is defined as follows: “the responsibility of an organisation
for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the
envi-
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with the so-called “third mission” of higher education?- How can
HEIs embed the UNESCO Global goals for sustainable development
(SDGs)? Regarding the inclusion of the UNESCO SDGs in higher
education, in addition to the individ-ual initiatives developed in
each institution, there are some global initiatives to guide the
institutions on how to start like the “Getting started with the
SDGs in Universities – A guide for universities, higher education
institutions, and the academic sector”23, which provides
ronment, through transparent and ethical behaviour that:-
contributes to sustainable development, including health and the
welfare of society;- takes into account the expectations of
stakehold-ers;- is in compliance with applicable law and
consist-ent with international norms of behaviour;- is integrated
throughout the organisation and practiced in its relationships.”
https://www.iso.org/iso-26000-social-responsibility.html23
http://ap-unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/Univer-
general tools and guidance including map-ping already in place
activities; engaging with stakeholders and leadership; capacity
build-ing; identifying priorities, opportunities and gaps;
integrating, implementing and embed-ding the SDGs within university
strategies, policies and plans; monitoring, reviewing and
eventually reporting and communicat-ing their actions on the SFGs.
Moreover, even if incipient some initiatives for the external
review of these actions into a general insti-tutional evaluation
framework are being de-veloped like the INQAAHE funded project on
“Sustainability & Quality in Higher Education” led by ACPUA
(Aragon Agency for Quality As-surance and Strategic Foresight in
Higher Ed-ucation) and AQUA (Quality Agency of Andor-ra), which
developed a set of indicators on compliance with the SDG in the
institutional evaluation.
sity-SDG-Guide_web.pdf
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